Ceramic tiling is most commonly used in bathroom flooring and bathtub and kitchen walls. Yet, wall tile is a lot bigger than the typical ceramics you find in bathroom flooring. Glass, stone, or metal options, along with mosaic and backsplash designs, have turned wall tile into a decorative force appropriate for kitchens, dining rooms, and other more formal public areas. It's time to revisit the possibilities of wall tiling and explore what it can do to add distinctiveness and creativity to your home.

Wall Tile Installation
Even the installation of traditional ceramic wall tiling is probably best left to a professional unless you have the proper experience and expertise. While the basics of installation aren't difficult to grasp, constant leveling and positioning of tiles are critical and even slight miscalculations will have a detrimental effect. Sub-walls must be adequately cleaned and prepared. Proper planning will be needed to avoid unsightly thin sliver tiles at wall corners and edges. Adhesive must be expertly applied to avoid problems with premature drying.

Grout and caulk application can be easy enough if the tiling is installed correctly, but many homeowners never make it this far. One of the things to consider with more creative wall tiles is that a service professional or interior decorator may be able to get you a discount on the tiles themselves saving you money that can be put toward the installation.

Glass, Stone and Metal Tiling

Glass TilesThere are more kinds of glass tiling than you can imagine. Bubble, seaside, euro, muse, and metallic glass tiles just name a few of the available options. Some are more transparent, some more opaque. Some, such as icicle glass, hardly look like glass at all. They also have different shapes, contours, and patterns. The coloring choices are even more endless. For soft and beautiful tiling or sharp, eye-grabbing wall tiles, you can find what you're looking for with glass tiles.

Stone TilesWhile stone comes in nearly as many colors as glass, its general texture is more set. What stone tiling can do for your walls is in the tiling design. Stone mosaics will shrink the size of the stone tiles for a finer, more detailed wall. Stone tile pavers will give your wall the look of an organic, vertical walkway. Stone tiles can be diamonds, hexagons, or octagons. They can be basket weaves or more complex interlocking combinations. If you're looking not just for a creative look, but a creative design, you should probably start with stone tiles.

Metal TilesMetal tiles offer essentially all the design options of stone tiling, while putting the more modern, metal preference to work for your walls. Many homeowners worry about the look of an entire metal wall, but like the appearance of the tiling. Metal wall tiles can be a popular choice for homeowners who are looking for border tiling for their rooms.

Backsplashes
Backsplashes are a great way to bring a sense of distinctiveness to your home. A backsplash mural is a particularly nice way to enliven your home with a creative décor. Wall murals are similar tattoos in that if you find the right one you'll always love it and choosing one can be an extremely rewarding experience. Pick the wrong one and you can get tired of looking at the same thing over and over again. In any case, don't overlook backsplash designs as part of the creative tiling process.

Marcus Pickett is a professional freelance writer for the home remodeling industry. He has published more than 600 articles on both regional and national topics within the home improvement industry.